Cash-strapped Oldham council dished out £10,354 to bring in PR firm Bell Pottinger North as they prosecuted high profile kitchens trader Vance Miller.

They had hoped to launch a blaze of publicity – wrongly assuming the controversial businessman would be found guilty of conspiracy to defraud at his Oldham-based company.

The media gurus even set up case studies with 'disgruntled' customers and interviews with 'victims', ready to launch when a verdict was given.

Collapsed

But Mr Miller was cleared when the case spectacularly collapsed, leaving the council to issue one 134-word statement and refuse to answer any questions.

Over £3m was spent on bringing Mr Miller, 45, before the court, along with three co-defendants.

They were accused of conspiracy to defraud customers of Mr Miller's company, called Kitchens.

But dismissing the prosecution after 17 weeks at Manchester Crown Court, Judge Jonathan Foster, QC, branded it 'misconceived from the start'.

Oldham council refused to answer any questions and only released the brief statement.

It said that a senior member of staff had been suspended and added that a review had been ordered into the shambles.

Repeated attempts to find out where the money to pay for the case is to come from have been met with a standard 'no comment until the review is completed' response.

No date for a release of the review's findings has been given.

Costs

The M.E.N. can also reveal that solicitors acting on behalf of the council sent Mr Miller's solicitors an itemised list of what they would expect in costs at the end of the case if a guilty verdict was reached.

That move was described as 'cocky beyond belief' by a spokesman for Burton Copeland, representatives for Mr Miller.

It included hire cars and stationery as part of the huge investigation that preceded the trial.

A spokesman for the council said: “Because the case was abandoned the agency concerned carried out only four months of preparatory work on our behalf, and then provided two consultants who supported us in court and provided additional capacity in the press team.

“This was particularly important given the extreme weather conditions at the time and the work this generated for members of the team. The total cost of this support was £10,354 including VAT.”